Finally, my last post of the Thanksgiving treats that I made. These were an absolute delight and everyone loved them. Why? Well, as I figured.. everyone loves cheesecake, but no one wants to finish their own slice. So why not make them into individual bites and top it off with a stick? I mean, the best food are the ones on sticks. I then dipped the individual cheesecakes into melted chocolate and then whatever topping I desired. My batch consisted of toffee pieces, walnut bits, and a variety of sprinkles. How marvelous! I used the recipe from a Daring Baker’s challenge a couple months ago:
Cheesecake Pops
Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor
makes 30–40 pops
5 8-oz pkgs cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
boiling water as needed
thirty-forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 lb chocolate, finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable shortening
assorted decorations: chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees (optional)
Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.
When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety. Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.
Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.
Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.
I only made 3/5 of this recipe and ended up with like 60 pops and baked it in an 8×8 square pan. This recipe makes A LOT. I would recommend cutting it down by a half, if not more than that. This recipe was also quite time consuming, so you have to be patient and start these early if you are making them for an event.
I have that book and have been meaning to make these for a while. Your look delicious!
Cute blog! How do you find the time with all the school work (and fun)?
aren’t these adorable and tasty!
how pretty! the polka dot sprinkles one is my favorite 🙂
Your cheesecake pops look perfectly dipped! Anything I dip always looks a mess!
~ingrid
these look so good~! I love your blog btw! I can’t wait to see what new recipes you post up~! 😀
I would love to make these. i think i will for a xmas party. did they seem that difficult? how did you do the chocolate so perfectly? any suggestions for beginners like me?
xoxo
Kelli
chocolate shavings-
thanks! you should definitely give them a shot, they were a huge hit with everyone!
Karen-
i am definitely busy all the time, but i always find time to bake. baking is my stress reliever/outlet and without it, i’d be a ticking time bomb! i usually bake on the weekends and focus on school and work during the weekdays. it’s been working for me so far. thanks for checking out my blog! 🙂
Dawn-
Thanks!
Megan-
Those were definitely a hit with the kids. 🙂
Ingrid-
it really helps to add a touch of shortening to the melted chocolate in order to keep it shiny. also, make sure the chocolate is at a smooth consistency, so it doesn’t come out bumpy after it dries.
Jennifer-
Thanks for following my blog! 🙂 I always love hearing feedback.
kelli-
they weren’t difficult, but definitely time consuming. i’d recommend starting these a full 24 hours in advance from the party. dipping chocolate just takes a lot of practice, and you improve as time goes on. you just have to work with it and see what technique works best for you. i found dipping it one side at a time worked the best for the squares. as for the circle pops, you have to give them a twirl in order to even them out a bit. hope that helps!
my goodness these are amazing (I mean, how can you go wrong with cheesecake or chocolate!). i got way too tired half way through the recipe, so I called it quits.
madalina-
yeah, the recipe was definitely a time consuming one with many steps… but you shouldn’t give up! the results are so worth it. 🙂
Hi! i just happened to view ur blog. is it possible if we just buy any cheesecake from any bakery shops and we’ll just have to frozen it and dip it into chocolate melt? 😀
Hi Kim, What a wonderful idea to do a blog on cooking..I also love pastries, I ran a bakery for 6 years, then went on to do chef work. I got to experience every aspect of the field, and love it. From Thai food down to the good ole home cooking which folks love to experience now and again. I stumbled upon your site when looking for a recipe for cheesecake balls I had seen at a market on the weekend. I was asked to make a dessert for a function this weekend at a DESSERT THEATER..ALL YOU CAN EAT DESSERTS!!!I thought this would be awesome..something different..I am going to make them tomorrow ..I can hardly wait. Thanks , and I will definatly be returning to your site !!
HAPPY BAKING!!
Kim!
These look amazing. Sometimes I go to your blog just to look at the cheesecake pops!
-Tina
I’m so tempted to give these a try for a party I’m invited to – they look just soooo good! 😀
I was wondering, though: How do you get them to cool? When you put them down, they will be ugly on the side they stand on, no? Or do you have to do it in two sittings?
–Jana
Did you hand roll the cheesecake balls or did you use one of those little mini ice cream scoops?
– Rita